🏅Should college sports be taxed?

Hey there,

Death, taxes, and college football — those are the three constants in life. But today, we’re ignoring the first one and jumping right into the last two: Why don’t college athletic departments pay taxes on their revenues? And, perhaps more importantly, what would happen if they lost that tax-exempt status? We’re diving into all of that, and more, in this tax-laden All-Access edition.

Wait, speaking of taxes, you don’t have much more time to sign up for Anthem’s NIL tax seminar, which takes place on March 4th. If you’re involved with the NIL space in any capacity, it’d be a really good idea to sign up and learn all about how NIL taxes work. It could literally save you tons.

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— Cole, Justin and Collin

Remember the days when we masqueraded that college football wasn’t a business? It seems like such a long time ago, but that’s exactly what people were saying just half-a-decade ago. Of course, it always made money, but there were certain appeals to amateurism that seem somewhat ridiculous retrospectively.

Before the turn of the millennium, there was a high-profile case that set in motion the term we now know as “amateurism.” The NCAA president at the time, Walter Byers, first started using the term “student-athlete” around this time. 

The NCAA even changed how they talked about college teams themselves during this lawsuit, being very careful to avoid language like “clubs” that might induce some connection to professional sports.

Since then, there’s been a dance between the NCAA and the law, with the former attempting desperately to convince the latter that they’re all about education. Some people remained unconvinced though – like the late Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), who passed away not too long ago.  

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